Busy, busy, busy

It’s been a busy couple of days, so settle in with a cup of coffee and prepare to read your butt off.

We received our office assignments on Friday. I have a total of four officemates, but I already knew two of them, Berkay and Maheen, because they were among the English teachers assigned to help the American teachers during our first few days here. Everyone seems really nice.

Yesterday was the preliminary English test to determine the level of English of each of our students. I don’t remember how exactly it works, but if they test low, they won’t move on to the TOEFL test on Monday. The TOEFL, for those of you who don’t know, is the English proficiency test that all non-native speakers of English must take before they are admitted into an American university. However, many English-speaking universities have also started requiring this test as well, which explains why it is required at TOBB.

We were each paired with a native Turkish speaker for the test so that we could both proctor the exam. My partner, Seda, and I had lunch together. Her two officemates joined us and after lunch, the four of us went for coffee, spending a lovely two hours together. At this time, I can’t remember the names of the other two women, but bear with me. I’ve learned a lot of Turkish names in the past two weeks and I’m doing the best I can. Whenever I meet new people here, it seems that I’m constantly answering “Why did you choose Turkey?” I know people are interested to know what made me choose their country over any others. Honestly, I’m just a big history dork and I can’t wait to see all the sites that have been around for centuries.

One cool part of my job is that the other Americans and I are recording the listening sections of upcoming tests. I get in there with my best announcer voice and have so much fun. In fact, I feel safe in saying that I’m having way more fun than the other native English speakers, some of whom seem to see this assignment as a chore.

Last night, Carly and I went to Kızılay, a neighborhood in Ankara with a lot of restaurants, bars, clubs, and shops. We went to dinner at a restaurant where I ordered mantı, a Turkish dumpling dish that is very similar to ravioli, but with a sweeter taste. The sweetness may have to do with the yogurt in the dish as opposed to the ricotta cheese that I’m used to. Anyway, it was dangerously delicious, and I’m not just saying because I was so hungry when my meal arrived.



From the restaurant, Carly and I went on to the Kafka bar for Jessi’s birthday celebration. I’ll say this about it: I’ve spent all day today in recovery and should have stopped at two glasses of whiskey.

Until next time.